On August 14, in the year 2004, the country woke up to the news that Dhananjoy Chatterjee had been hanged after completion of his trail and imprisonment that lasted 14 years for the rape and murder of a teenage school girl Hetal Parekh.

He
is the only person in the
twenty-first century to have been sent to the gallows for a crime not
related to terrorism.
There are too much bustles in national media regarding
Dhananjoy's being guilty or not.

In
Focus

After
over a decade having
passed since Dhananjoy's hanging,
Bengali film-maker Arindam Sil is making a docu-feature 'Dhananjoy'
which will hit the silver screens
on August 11, this
year. Acclaimed Bengali
actor Anirban Bhattacharya
is playing 'Dhananjoy' in reel life.
Let's have some discussion with him on
what he feels about the
verdict and more.

Q:
In 2004, when Dhananjoy Chatterjee was hanged, a punch line went
viral which said, "Dhora
porle Dhananjoy; Na porle enjoy".
If I'm not wrong it must
have reached you too.
You were 18 then, and now you are here in front of me playing
Dhananjoy on-screen. So, how is the feeling?

A:
Yes, the line reached me like everyone. But then for me there was no
reason
to hear or discuss the matter. I was just 18 and a schoolboy
then. It was not possible for me to know the facts.
But I am 30 now and above all, in 2004, I had
no generic identity and now am an actor. It shows that how the life
of an actor changes.

Q:
What do you think about that verdict?

A:
Basically, as an actor it doesn't make any
difference at all that
what I am thinking. But there is definitely a choice for
an actor whether to
take part in research work of the film
or not. Otherwise, he can
be part of the movie just following the director's brief. I was the
part of the research work intentionally. But, screenplay or
director's view is the ultimate thing. I think every actor should
be a slave to screenplay. But at the end of the day, it totally
depends on the motion of screenplay. If it says that the second
perspective is more powerful, then it is and if it points that the
second perspective is not so strong then it is that.

Q:
'Dhananjoy' is your third time collaboration with Arindam Sil. We
have seen you in 'Eagoler Chokh' and after that you have done a
very small character in 'Durga Sahay'; which might
have been rejected by
other prominent actors. But you took the role. Is this because of the
name Arindam Sil?

A:
To some extent. Though the character was small in 'Durga Sahay'
but there was ample scope to portray my potentiality. It was also
very funny to
me that a person who had
cast me in an urban character earlier, was
offering me a role of a town-side dacoit in 'Durga Sahay'. It
means that he was
pouring his faith in
my acting capability and I should take this opportunity as a
challenge and I did it. In
fact, I enjoy small roles if the character sounds interesting to me.
And I want to say one thing, before the casting of many pivotal
characters, Arindam Da told me that the role of the dacoit will be
mine. Somehow, I realised that when Arindam Da writes
his screenplay, he looks for a role, and it may be small, which he
can offer to me. I feel fortunate. I enjoyed doing the character and
a creative understanding with Arindam Da. I feel same for theatre
also but none have
actually offered me even
a small role in theatre.

Q:
We have seen lots of directors in world cinema repeat the same cast
in their movies. I wanted to know it from you because you have also
directed theatre plays.
Is there any comfort zone between both that leads to
repetition?

A:
Actually everyone likes to stay in their comfort zone. The
relationship between a
director and his actor is
like the relationship between
husband and wife, which becomes stronger day by day. And as you
mentioned the world cinema, yes, it is a fact that
from legends
like Tarkovsky to Kurosawa; Satyajit Ray to Bergman, and
even in recent times
Christopher Nolan have repeated their cast again and again. On the
other hand, Steven Spielberg rarely repeats
his cast. If you go through our industry you will see that from
Srijit Mukherji to Kaushik Ganguly more or less try
to maintain the same team
and it's all for the comfort.

Q:
Do you feel the same comfort with Suman Mukherjee or Sudeshna
Roy-Avijit Guha as you have done couple of projects
with them also?

A:
I have spent a long span of
time with Laal Da (Suman
Mukherjee), though I have worked only in theatre with him. But our
relationship is beyond our work, we have very good personal bonding
too. I have done two back to back projects
with Rana Da (Avijit Guha)-Sudeshna Di but after that I have done so
many different kinds of characters. So, if I will do work again with
them, the understanding level needs to be revived a little.

Q:
As you have a
national scholarship in physical acting. How does it help you in your
reel and stage journey?

A:
According to me, acting is always physical. Though there are so many
misconceptions about physical acting. The main fact is you can't
act except your physique. Generally people want to act within
their physical comfort zone but I am more interested to explore the
unknown zone of my physique at
the time of acting.

Q:
Is it called method acting?

A:
It's up to you. If you wish you can. Basically, method acting has
given the main attention on psyche. There are different kinds of
method acting. But most acceptable is the
one Konstantin
Stanislavski and his team Moscow Art Theatre, who
came from Moscow to America to perform Chekov's "Ten
Fundamentals" showcased.An
American young boy Lee Strasberg who
went there to see the play
wondered how is it possible to perform like thee! Is it also a form
of acting? Then he created a new module and started implementing that
in his acting studio. This module becomes method acting but anyway it
is more Western.
As in India, method acting is 'Kathakali' but everyone is
following the Western
format so too
in other parts
of the world.

Q:
In recent times, no other docu-feature has
created so
much bustle like 'Dhananjoy' including 'Main Aur Charles'
which was based entirely on the
prince of crime Charles
Shobhraj. Is this because Dhananjoy got punishment as a rapist cum
murderer of a teenage girl? Does it portray a kind of hidden
voyeurism of our society?

A:
I am countering the word 'hidden'. I think that
the voyeurism in us is
very open and recently it has
become a very in thing
too. In my opinion, as you said a teenage girl was raped and finally
died; that shook the society most at
that time. Now a
few people are
saying things
remembering that shock, few are acting as this is their democratic
right to do so. Some people are talking after watching the trailer
that the film is probably going to glorify the character Dhananjoy.
If you go a couple
of months back, there had
been a big release 'Raees'
where Shah Rukh Khan played an anti-social
but the film
earned crores at the
box office.

Q:
But 'Raees' also created lots of negative buzz on
social media before its
release…

A:
But people watched the film finally and that's why it earned
crores. And honestly, I am not interested in
what people are saying about vice and virtue. As a social being, I
have realised
that in any kind of sensitive issue, we must negate all the bubbles
coming out from the chaos. I don't give this a damn.

Q:
Then what do you believe?

A:
My way is very simple. As a rational human being, please think of it
as an individual, and then learn something more about it. If you have
any limitations,
discuss it with the person who is authentic in your sense.

Q:
It this
a resurrection period of Bengali films
towards cultural globalisation.
And you are obviously one of the prominent faces of it. How do you
relate with it?

A:
I think the change that is happening is for the sake of betterment. I
am very happy that I came into
this field of art in this era
rather than in the 90's.
For those who are keen to do some good work or learn as much as they
can like me, it's the best time.

Q:
When will I get an opportunity
to interview Anirban, the director?

A:
I am not thinking about film direction, at
least for the time being.But
theatre is in my mind and I want to direct a new play every
year. Actually, I have some sort of knowledge
and a sense
of direction when it comes to theatre,
as I have
personally been involved
with the medium for 13 long
years. But
I haven't had proper
learning and nor
am I well
versed
with film making technicalities. There are so many
things to explore in theatre direction. That's
why, when I will feel that I have explored enough, I will think of
film direction. Or you can say when I will feel confident enough to
control the entire unit, only then will I
go behind the camera.

Q:
How is 'Sangharam Hatibagan'?

A:
Very fine. Recently we have done two Polish theatre plays.
We are presently
looking for a big garage in Kolkata where we can perform twice a
month and people can connect. We have so many auditoriums but their
approach towards thespians is generally like
that they
are dealing with
some criminals.

Q:
Now cineplays
on
online platforms are gaining
popularity.
Are there any possibilities of Bengali theatre going
online?

A:
It will not work, I think. Theatre is a live medium and you have to
step out of your house to watch it. Theatre will not be home
delivered. If you shoot a theatre with 70 cameras then also you will
fail to do so.

Q:
What do you think is the
way to save the industry?

A:
If I maintain my honesty then I must say that films
and theatre have
surrendered themselves to temporal grid. Whereas, painting and
literature have refrained.
So, if you want to save a marginal art like theatre you have to be
arrogant and simultaneously utterly
confident about your work.